[Surfactant and ambroxol in the therapy of idiopathic respiratory syndrome in newborn infants].

The Authors have carried out a study on 30 newborns, affected by idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome (IRDS), divided into 3 statistically comparable groups, treated, in addition to mechanical ventilation, respectively with Tokio-Akita (TA) surfactant, placebo (both by endotracheal administration) and ambroxol given by intravenous infusion. The clinical evolution of the three groups was studied, above all as related to mortality, ventilation length, oxygen need, immediate and successive pulmonary complications and cerebral haemorrhage. Mortality was lower in the group treated with ambroxol, while the ventilation length, the average insufflation pressure and the oxygen need were lower in the group treated with surfactant, compared with the other two groups. Pulmonary complications were present only in the group treated with placebo and ambroxol, whereas cerebral haemorrhage rate is higher in the group treated with surfactant. On the basis of the results achieved, some important observations are suggested and possible aetiological therapies of IRDS are formulated.